what are the symptom's of a blown coilover?

[rongfk]

OK, here is the deal. i bought a used set of mismatch s13 coil overs. fronts are old style teins with pillow-ball and camber plates, rears are bilsteins with pillow-ball top mounts. they were advertised as working non-leaking, good condition. for under $500 shipped.

other than them leaking, how could i tell if they are good are not before i go threw the trouble of installing them. i dont know if this matters or not but they compress with my body weight and return back up when i let off, but to me it seems too easy, comparing my weight to that of a car.

ill post pictures of them in a bit, with hopes of someone being able to identify what i have exactly.

thanks, ronnie.

[KidSaru]

If you can compress them as easily as you say they're blown.

[chibo]

It's impossible for us to tell you what kind of force should allow you to compress the shock (because of different body strength, weight, etc), but keep in mind that in almost all cases you will be able to compress a shock for a car. It isn't acted on by the entire weight of the car(I mean all 2400lb of it), which is what I assume you're thinking... the springs are what hold the load, the shocks are there to dampen the movements of the springs.
</ghetto assessment of what a shock does and why they can be compressed by hand, correct me more technically those who know this shit well>

If they compress with even pressure and decompress evenly then I'd imagine they're not incredibly bad. When I take blown shocks off generally you can start compressing the shock and they'll just drop at a certain point, or when they start decompressing they will dribble out a bit and expand evenly or come out evenly then stick.

[rongfk]

here is some pic's of what i have. also are they rebuildable? can i do it myself? who and where can i take them? whats the pricerange on what they would cost to rebuild them?

thanks, ronnie.

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/4122/p1020379yn5.jpg (http://imageshack.us/?x=my6&amp;myref=http://my.imageshack.us/v_images.php)
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/3532/p1020378de4.jpg (http://imageshack.us/?x=my6&amp;myref=http://my.imageshack.us/v_images.php)
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/5906/p1020380jy2.jpg (http://imageshack.us/?x=my6&amp;myref=http://my.imageshack.us/v_images.php)

[GotDriftS14]

If they compress with even pressure and decompress evenly then I'd imagine they're not incredibly bad. When I take blown shocks off generally you can start compressing the shock and they'll just drop at a certain point, or when they start decompressing they will dribble out a bit and expand evenly or come out evenly then stick.

yeah, when i took the rear blown shocks out of my infiniti, the piston would pretty much move freely. you could move it up and down like a bike pump and there was no resistance. a good shock should give resistance to any sudden movements, and like chibo said, should have smooth reaction to pressure. they are supposed to move if you push on em, but it should be a very controlled movement.